“That ambassadors, envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, ministers resident, commissioners, chargés d’affaires, and secretaries of legation, appointed to the countries hereinafter named in Schedule A, shall be entitled to compensation for their services, respectively, at the rates per annum hereinafter specified: that is to say, ambassadors and envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, the full amounts specified therefor in said Schedule A; ministers resident and commissioners, seventy-five per centum.”
Now, Sir, by this joint resolution the President is authorized to appoint three “commissioners,” and also a “secretary,” the latter to be versed in the English and Spanish languages, to proceed to the island of San Domingo, and to inquire into, ascertain, and report certain things. I say this is a legislative act creating three new offices; but the Senator says that it is simply a resolution of inquiry. Even suppose the offices are not diplomatic, they are none the less offices. Let me put a question to the Senator. Suppose a joint resolution were brought forward authorizing the appointment of three commissioners to proceed to England in order to ascertain the condition of United States securities and the possibility of finding a market there; according to his assumption it would be a resolution of inquiry only. Would he allow it to pass without reference to the Committee on Finance? Would he not insist that it was a legislative act opening a most important question, which should be considered by the appropriate committee?
The Senator is too experienced to be put aside by the suggestion that the commissioners shall serve without compensation except the payment of expenses. Does this alter the case? Without those words in this joint resolution the general diplomatic law would take effect, and it would at least be a question if they would not be entitled to the salary of $7,500 per annum. And yet a joint resolution creating three new offices is called simply a resolution of inquiry! Sir, the Senator is mistaken; and his mistake in this matter illustrates other mistakes with reference to the important subject now before the Senate.
Is it right that these commissioners shall serve without compensation? Is not the laborer worthy of his hire? If they are proper men, if among them is that illustrious Professor, my much-honored friend, who has been referred to already, Mr. Agassiz, is it right to expect him to give his invaluable services without compensation? The requirement that the service shall be of this kind will necessarily limit it either to the rich or to the partisan. It does not open a free field to talent, to fitness, to those various qualities so important on the commission.
I hope that the Senator will reconsider his judgment, that he will see that we cannot treat the pending proposition with the levity—he will pardon me—with which he treated it. Sir, it is something more than a resolution of inquiry. It is a serious measure, and it begins on its face by an affront to the Constitution of the United States, which expressly declares that the President “shall nominate, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint, ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls”; but by this resolution he is to appoint commissioners without the advice and consent of the Senate; and yet this resolution is accepted by my honorable friend, the Senator from Ohio.
The Senator, it seems to me, has not comprehended the object of this resolution. To my mind it is plain. It is simply to commit Congress to the policy of annexion. I insist upon this point: the object of the resolution, and I will demonstrate it, is to commit Congress to the policy of annexion. Otherwise, why is the resolution introduced? The President does not need it. Under existing powers he is authorized to appoint agents, if he pleases, to visit foreign countries, and he is supplied with a secret-service fund by which their expenses may be defrayed. The President does not need this resolution. It is an act of supererogation, so far as he is concerned; and it is also contrary, so far as I am informed, to the precedents of our history.
Agents of an informal character, informally called Commissioners, and not acting under any statute, have been appointed in times past by the Executive. I have a memorandum before me of several occasions. In 1811-12 the President dispatched Mr. Poinsett and Mr. Scott to Buenos Ayres and Caracas to ascertain the condition of those two countries, with a view to the recognition of their independence. In 1817 he dispatched Mr. Bland, Mr. Rodney, and Mr. Graham to Buenos Ayres again, and also to Chili; and in 1820 he dispatched Mr. Prevost and Mr. Forbes: all for the same object. The reports of those gentlemen will be found spread out at length in the State Papers of our country, printed by the authority of Congress; but you will search in vain through your statute-book for any act or joint resolution creating the Commission. It was constituted by the President himself, with the assistance of the Secretary of State; and it was to the Secretary of State that the Commission reported, and the President communicated their report to Congress.
Therefore do I say, this joint resolution, as it now stands, is entirely unnecessary. The President has all the power it pretends to give. He may, if he sees fit, appoint agents,—calling them by any name that he pleases, calling them commissioners or anything else,—he may appoint agents to any extent, of any number, to visit this island and report with regard to its condition. He may give in charge to his envoys all the matters named in this joint resolution. All these he may write in their commission; and when they return, he may, as was done in other days, communicate their report to Congress.
Therefore do I say, the joint resolution is absolutely unnecessary; and I call the attention of my honored friend, the Senator from Indiana, [Mr. Morton,] who champions it, to this special point. I ask him to show its necessity; I ask him to show any good purpose it can serve; I ask him to show why it is brought forward on this occasion, unless to commit Congress to the policy of annexion. Sir, I stand on this position; and I say, knowing the powers of the President under this Government, knowing the practice of this Government, that this resolution is completely superfluous, and that its single purpose, so far as one can see any purpose in its terms, is to commit Congress to what I shall show in a very few moments is a most unjustifiable policy.